The Life and Times of Sooz » Music

“Song for Sooz” debuts on YouTube by Dave Mirabella from The Rationales

Sooz — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:57:35 +0000

A couple months ago I entered a “contest” to help the guys in The Rationales get the word out about their superb Boston band. At the end of the contest, five of us won a custom song written and performed by Dave Mirabella from The Rationales. Here’s the song that includes shoutouts for my projects Sooz TV and Exploit Boston!. Thanks, guys! :)

Become a fan of The Rationales on Facebook and follow the band on Twitter.

You can also watch the video on YouTube.

Inspired and Inspiring — “A Watched Pot” Comes To Life For Bleu

Sooz — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 06:30:57 +0000

Bleu at TT The Bear’s Place, November 2006, Photo by Sooz

Unfortunately it’s not all that unique of a story — amazing band gets signed to a big label, releases an album and then gets dropped right as their next album is about to be released. Or in the case of two of my favorite Boston bands in the late 1990s — Talking to Animals and Splashdown — the labels produced each band’s first album but never released them. Not that I’m still bitter or anything.

So to see Bleu release A Watched Pot today (July 14, 2009) is nothing short of inspired and inspiring. Back in 2005 he was all set to share the album with the world but found himself dropped from Aware/Columbia Records along with other artists and employees during a label “reorganization.”

A lot of musicians would understandably have just given up. But Bleu worked to get those songs back from the label so he could eventually release the album elsewhere (Artist Garage/Fontana Distribution). And it’s all finally happening for him today. Amazing and awesome!

A Watched Pot is a gem of pop rock awesomeness — eleven songs of awesomeness to be precise. Read the full tale of how “A Watched Pot” finally came to life on Bleu’s community site.

Listen to A Watched Pot then buy it!

And it doesn’t matter if you can’t get into his music (though I’ll never understand why) — everyone should buy this album to support someone who stayed true to his creative pursuits.

Bleu is sharing his adventure to bring A Watched Pot to life at YouTube, Ning, Facebook and Twitter — the least we could do is give a little something back. Buy A Watched Pot digital downloads at iTunes or Amazon.com. If you buy the album from Newbury Comics website, your CD will be signed by Bleu (while supplies last).

Music video for “Come ‘N Go”

See Bleu in Boston on July 24th

Bleu called Boston home for a while during and after attending Berklee and then he relocated to Los Angeles in June 2006. His Farewell to Boston show included the first time the rock and roll spectacle known as Bang Camaro performed on stage. Here are some of my photos from that night.

He will be back in town to celebrate the release of A Watched Pot on Friday, July 24th at TT The Bear’s Place joined by Hooray for Earth, Air Traffic Controller and another favorite band of mine, Count Zero. Get there early — Count Zero goes on at 9.

Photos and video from the second and third preliminary nights of WBCN’s 31st Annual Rock N’ Roll Rumble

Sooz — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 19:25:57 +0000

(The Motion Sick competed on the second night of preliminaries)

Ryan’s Smashing Life has reviews of the second and third preliminary nights of WBCN’s Rock N’ Roll Rumble at The Middle East Upstairs including my photos and videos.

Video of The Dirty Truckers performing “Boston Wrangler” at Rumble preliminaries

Here’s the video I shot of The Dirty Truckers performing “Boston Wrangler” at the third preliminary night on April 7th. They will compete in the semi-finals on April 16th at The Middle East Downstairs.

Universal Hall Pass’s cover of “Ring of Fire” on American Idol

Sooz — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 16:25:17 +0000

A friend alerted me that Adam Lambert on American Idol sang Universal Hall Pass’s arrangement of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” a couple weeks ago. A cover of a cover? Aha! Apparently Ryan Seacrest thought it was a version of the song by Chris Cornell. Oops. I finally checked out Adam’s version on YouTube and it was really, really bad. So bad I don’t think I should even link to it.

If you want to hear Melissa Kaplan of Universal Hall Pass’s outstanding version of “Ring of Fire”, listen to it in the playlist below of eight covers. Or download the MP3 from the Universal Hall Pass website. Melissa was the singer of one of my favorite Boston bands, Splashdown.

Photo Credit: I’m not sure who took this photo. It’s an old press photo when Melissa was in Splashdown.

Music Worth Noting : Universal Hall Pass Covers “Ring of Fire”

Sooz — Sun, 20 Jul 2003 15:49:34 +0000

One of my favorite Boston bands, Splashdown, broke up a couple years ago after Capitol Records decided not to release their Blueshift album. All three of the band members moved on to other interesting projects. Melissa Kaplan (vocals/lyrics for Splashdown) started her own band called Universal Hall Pass, a project featuring her vocals and lyrics plus guest contributors. She was in North Carolina recently recording music for a forthcoming album. Maybe she’ll be lucky and the record label who picks her up will actually release it. In the meantime, she’s made a few songs available on her website. The latest MP3 is a cover of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire.” When most bands cover a song it’s hard to really even tell them apart; but Melissa does a great job adding her own style to this song including middle eastern influences and stunning vocals. The song was a joint collaboration with the electronic duo Mugat. (Universal Hall Pass : Ring of Fire)

Update March 29, 2009: A lot of people saw someone sing Universal Hall Pass’s version of Ring of Fire on American Idol. If you’re wondering what Melissa Kaplan’s version of the song sounds like, listen to it in this mix of eight covers.